Postal packet



NoMoaem' H. A. ROBINSON.

POSTAL PACKET.

r m V m r m E N. PETERS. Phuwumu n har. Washington, D. c.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

HENRY ADDISON ROBINSON, OF FOXCROFI, MAINE.

POSTA L PACKET.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 333,890, dated January 5, 1886.

Application filed June 8, 1885.

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, HENRY ADDISON ROB- INsoN, of Foxcroft, in the county of Piscataquis, of the State of Maine, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Postal Packets; and I do hereby declare the same to be described in the following specification, and represented in the accompanying drawings, of which Figure l is a side view, Fig. 2 a longitudinal section, and Fig. 3 a transverse section, of

a postal packet containing my invention, the nature of which is defined in the claims hereinafter presented. Fig. 4 is an edge View of one of the heads of such packet.

The packet in question is intended for the transportation in the mails of engravings, drawings, prints, or papers or articles which it may be desirable to keep from being wrinkled or bent, to their injury. I

It consists, first, of a tube, a, formed by covering a sheetof paper on one side with paste or cement, and winding the sheet upon a mold and about itself to the requisite thickness, so that when dry it will form a stiff tube, which may be circular or elliptical, or substantially or approximately so, in transverse section; second, of two heads, 5 b, inserted within such tube at its ends. so as to cover and bear against them, each of such heads being rabbeted in its periphery to extend within and fit the bore and bear against the end of such tube; third, of a covering, 0, of paper pasted around the tube, and projecting beyond each end thereof and down upon the outer surface of one of the heads and pasted thereto, and extending to or beyond, without being pasted to the other head, on which it may be folded; fourth, ofa fiexile fastening or bail, d, of wire, adapted to the tube at or near its open end, so as to be capable of being turned down from across such end, and after the insertion of the head in such end of being turned and bent ortwisted down upon the head, or the part of the covering lapped thereon, or on both, so as to hold or aid in holding the head in place in the tube sufficiently secure for transporting the packet in a closed condition safely in a mail bag or pouch, the fastening being of a character to render it easy for a postmaster to undo it to examine the contents of the packet, and afterward to refasten it without breaking it.

Instead of a single bail, I sometimes use two or more, in which case they may beinterlocked, twisted, or folded together, or separately bent or twisted down upon the head in order to secure it in place.

I claim as a new or improved manufacture-- 1. A postal packet, substantially as de scribed, consisting of the paper tube, the two rabbeted heads, the external covering extending around and pasted to such tube and across and to one of the said heads, and proj eeting beyond the other head at its end of the tube, so as to be capable of being folded down thereupon, as explained, and a fastening device or devices, as described, adapted to the tube, so as to be capable of being turned from over its head or end, and when the head is in place of being bent, turned, or twisted down thereupon or over it, so as to hold or aid in holding it in place, as set forth.

2. A tube closed at one end and open at the other, and provided with the rabbeted head and the paper covering, and also with the fastening device or devices, substantially as described, applied to such tube and to the head, when therein, as and for the purpose set forth.

HENRY ADDISON ROBINSON.

Witn esses:

H. G. PRENIISS, G. B. KITTREDGE. 

